


Partner

by YurikoNeko (AlaxxisSade)



Category: Kyou Kara Maou!
Genre: Canon - Book, F/M, Happy Ending, New OTP, imaginary ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-30
Updated: 2015-03-30
Packaged: 2018-03-20 09:58:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,408
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3645996
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlaxxisSade/pseuds/YurikoNeko
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A whirlwind romance? Well, they had the whirlwind part down pat-- world-threatening Boxes, explosions and Nazis made quite an impressive whirlwind-- but romance? </p><p>For once, the soldier wasn't too sure. But whatever it was they had, he has finally decided to find out.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Partner

**Author's Note:**

> For the readers of the novel only, this here's I think the first ever fic (on AO3, at least...) about this awesome couple~

“Are you sure about this?”

                I look at the colonel—at my comrade for the past ten, long years, and see the genuine reluctance in his eyes.

                “This country could still use you, Lieutenant.”

                But I shake my head, firmly. “This country has you. She’s in safe hands now.”

                The battle-weary soldier cracks a wizened grin. “I survived sticks and stones of every type imaginable, but save me from your sarcasm.”

                “I don’t—”

                “I know.” He snaps to a sharp salute. “Mission accomplished, soldier. You have done well. Now it’s time to go home.”

                I reply in kind, feeling melancholy now that the time has finally come. “Germany will always be my home.”

                “Or so you say,” he laughs. “What is it those Americans say? ‘Home is where the heart is’?”

                He jabs me in my chest. “If you don’t know where to go, I say just follow your heart. Because it sure as hell ain’t here.”

 

I took his advice. I’ve taken his advice before, and it’s saved me every time.

                But standing outside the restaurant in Chinatown, Boston, it just occurred to me that he had spent the past few decades of his life in wars, and this place, in some ways, could be a lot scarier than a battlefield.

                “Hey, mister, are you just gonna stand there?” A black-haired Asian boy stares up at me, his model airplane held above his head. “We got a special lunch offer today, you better go in now if you want a seat.”

                “No, I—”

                “TJ, who are you—” The restaurant’s lady owner comes out to get her son, and merely raises an eyebrow when she sees me. “Oh, it’s you.” A pause. “The windows are bulletproof now, just so you know.”

                I smile awkwardly. “You look as young as I last saw you.”

                “To you guys, we Asians all look the same,” she waves me off. “Hey, honey! Look who’s finally here!”

                To her credit, her husband looks exactly the same as I remembered too, even though it’s been five years since we met. He reacts exactly as I thought he would, too. “It’s you! It’s actually you! You’re still alive!”

                “Yes, I—”

                “Did you get lost?! Were you stranded on an island for five years and just got rescued by a pirate ship!? Or did the turtle take you the Dragon King’s palace where five minutes equals five days and five days equals five years?!”

                “I don’t think the math works that way… And actually I drifted on the lake for a few hours before a Swedish boat picked me up.”

                “…Then why did you wait so long?” His gaze is suddenly serious, and hard. I take that back—five years does make a difference. As does becoming a father. “Five years, Richard. Five years is a long time… Especially to a young lady.”

                I smile bitterly. “I know. How’s she… how are you all doing?”

                “We’re fine, as you can see.” DT puts an arm around his wife’s shoulders proudly. “A boy, a girl, and another on the way.”

                “Congratulations,” I say, sincerely. “And the doctor?”

                “…He died. Not long after that incident.”

                “I see.”

                The silence drags on uncomfortably. I do feel bad about Regent, but that’s not what I really meant to ask about, and both of us know that.

                “…She’s still as active as ever. Treasure hunting, grave robbing, Robin Hood-ing and all that.”

                I feel a weight lifted off my chest, just as the mention of her wraps a chain around my heart. “You sound busy. How do you manage to juggle all that as well as your family and the restaurant?”

                He gives me a strange look. “I’m a full-on family man now. I stopped being her partner years ago.” Then he grins. “Lucky for you, though, I do know where to find her as of right now.”

 

I stand outside the large mansion, fancy invitation in hand, and feel even more helpless than I did standing outside the restaurant I hired hit men to destroy five years ago.

                Of course I never forgot that, treasure hunter or not, she still belonged to an affluent upper class society, but whatever I remembered of her was just the opposite of ‘ball gowns’, and ‘masquerade dinner parties’.

                I take the silver mask the waiter hands me, feeling foolish in my traveler’s clothes.

                The party hall is huge and crowded with rich people in expensive clothes, exchanging ‘how are you’s and fake laughter. For a second there I’m struck by a sudden fear, that she would’ve changed so much over the past five years that I wouldn’t be able to recognize her—but then the crowd seems to split, and there she is, right there.

                She’s taller than I remembered, more graceful. Dressed in a Cinderella gown, chatting amiably with a gentleman in a suit. I feel more self-conscious than ever, which is ridiculous—I never cared a day in my life what I wore, or how I looked, but now I just wish I could sink into a lake. But while my mind is paralyzed, my feet move on my own—

                And before I know it, I’m standing in front of her, face to face.

                Well, not really. Half of her face is covered by her mask, and what little I can see reflects the five years that has passed. My throat feels dry as I struggle to find the words to say, and the first thing that leaves my tongue is,

                “…You’re not a brat anymore.”

                She cocks her head. “I was never a brat, Richard.”

                “You… recognize me?”

                “Has anyone ever told you you have very recognizable eyes?”

                “It runs in the family.”

                “Do disappearing acts run in the family too?”

                “Not really, no.”

                “Good. Then the chances are I’ll like your family more than I like you.”

                I clear my throat. “Graves, I… You… You’ve… changed.”

                “Well, you haven’t.”

                “No, I haven’t.” I smile self-deprecatingly.  “You’ve grown. Taller.” And more mature, and more graceful. She’s a woman now, and I miss the girl who would run across Germany with a stranger in a black uniform.

                “Idiot. It’s just these stupid heels. Speaking of which…” She stamps her four-inch heels into my foot. “I never got you back for hurting my feet five years ago.”

                I wince through the pain, but know better than to protest. “O-okay… so we’re even now?” Though I just realized that I wouldn’t mind being in her debt for a bit longer. A few more years, or decades, maybe.

                “Not even close, Richard. You left me hanging for five years.”

                I open and close my mouth wordlessly for a few seconds. “You waited for me… for five years?”

                “No. I couldn’t find anyone better in five years.”

                “What about… that gentleman over there?”

              “Oh, him? He just happens to have a three thousand-year-old female mummy that he pinched from the pyramids.” She watches him approach us from the drinks bar, with the gaze of one looking at a particularly unsavory cow patty. “But you know what? He reminds me a bit of our old friend, Coruna.”

                “Oh? How so?”

                “He likes to go after other people’s women, like that mummy.”

                She pulls her heel out of my foot, and as my mind is still reeling from the pain, she leaps up and puts her arms around my neck, pulling me down for an awkward, childish… wonderful kiss.

                “…See, Richard? I told you I was never a brat.”

                I decide to disagree another time. “He’s coming.”

                “Good. Later he’ll probably try to kidnap me, so just follow quietly and take the mummy to a safe place before you signal me to beat the living daylights out of him. Got it? Partner.”

                “Roger, partner.” I try my best to hide my grin as the gentleman in question offers me a hand and a quizzical gaze.

                “I don’t believe we’ve met. May I have your acquaintance?”

                April hooks her arm into mine, smiling a sweet smile that makes my scalp go numb. “He’s Richard Deuter, from Germany.”

                “Germany, huh?” The gentleman straightens himself up pompously. “Herr Rikhiart, then?”

                Out of his view, she jabs me in the side and briefly sticks out her tongue.

                I look at him, then I look at her, and I sigh to myself. “No, you can call me Richard.”

                I get the feeling I’ll be stuck with that name for a long, long time.


End file.
